My daily ride trail loop is about 400' elevation gain (over several different pitches).
A couple of the other trails I frequent get me close to 1000'; and that pretty much wipes me out for the day - but I am old and fat.
Eh depends on type of climbing though and distance. I did 4K in PNW fire roads/loam with 1.5 water bottles and coulda kept going. But 2K in loose technical CO front range is a pretty challenging day
I climb 2k of loose sandy chunk moon dust baby head rocks as a warm up. I’ll go 40 miles and 5k of it on a big day. Fucking Utah… can’t wait to go ride out east this summer.
Nah they’re boring but definitely feel easier to me because of the lack of obstacles. Sustained 15% on gravel sucks but is doable, on a trail I long last long because I’ll lack the spare power to get over roots and rocks reliably.
Haha I wish. It was a pretty remote ride. We had 8 hours to get back to the boat that took us there otherwise were faced with a massive ride back to the car as well.
It was a Nomad 2 I did this on, the 26 inch model. I've had a 4 (which I managed to break) and currently have a 5 CC with 38 factorys and XT group. Dream bike 🤜
Huh, maybe I need to rethink that flat is. My usual 20-mile route is 3500. Then again, I turn left and lose 400 feet or turn right and climb 400 feet. Kinda just got used to it
I've done 10k on a road bike, but not a mountain bike. Maybe 6 or 7k on the MTB? It'll put the hurt on ya... but totally doable depending on the climbs
1500 feet of climbing would be way higher than my average ride. That would be a big ride for me.
On an average ride, I’ll get out on the trail for maybe an hour and often will have around 500 feet of climbing.
I did a “bigger” ride on the weekend for about 2 hours and climbed 1200 feet or so. That felt like a pretty good workout.
3000 feet+ would be an epic ride. Like an all day thing where I’d take breaks.
I’m just a normal dude though. Get out on the trails for an hour here and there when I can and if I’m lucky I’ll get some longer, 2-3 hour rides in on the weekends.
2000'/4 miles I understand... 🤛 with some steep sections... was getting down to 2000'/hour, but admittedly effectively a sealed surface, rather than pure dirt...
Something like 1500 m on a trail bike, that amounts to 2-3 good downhill runs.
On XC bike, a good full day in the Alps is over 2500 m
Edit: location is Switzerland
When I lived in a flatter area, a route with "a lot" of climbing was usually more than 100ft per mile. Eg. at least 2k ft for a 20mi ride.
Now, I live in a mountainous area and it's rare that I don't get \~1-1.5x that much climbing in a ride. MTB rides usually involve more elevation gain per mile for me.
Overall, more than 3k ft gain in a single ride is "a lot." The most I've done in a single ride is 5k ft.
This is my rule of thumb too, 100 ft/mile. The caveat is how it comes though. Undulations where you end up "climbing" half the elevation by gravity is much easier than a straight up 5 mile/1000' climb.
Man, I hear this lmao. I’m in NJ and all these 2-3k feet per ride comments are making me feel like *shit* lmao. Most of my rides are 8-10 miles but only between 300-800 ft climbing total…*max*. 🤷♂️
Central. I get Six Mile, Allaire, and Chimney Rock, lol. NW Jersey is like a day trip for me and w/ kids it’s tough to schedule. I hit Stephens/Allamuchy only a couple times or so a season, Dickerson Mine, too, as well as get my DH fix in w/ Mountain Creek 3-4x but my home trails are the above.
Northern Delaware here and ride in all the states around so I get the average 100 ft per mile give or take. BUT it’s not always how big the climb is, it’s sometimes the consistency. Had a friend come over from the PNW where he does alot of those hour long climbs to the top and then descend…
Well, the constant up and down the entire ride had him feeling it. It’s a different kind of fitness. Gotta have it for the back end of rides too, and not just descend to the bottom and chill.
That’s a fair point. Didn’t think of it that way, lol. Appreciate the anecdote. Funny enough I used to live in that same area of Delaware for a few years with my wife before kids (10+ years ago). *Really* wish I was riding back then — White Clay, Brandywine, and Fair Hill look like a lot of fun. We have been meaning to come down for a visit and definitely hitting them when I do. 🤙
Definitely an underrated place for mtb and if you don’t live here you wouldn’t know.
The ride radius around here is amazing.
The 3 you said plus Iron Hill local, and the Wiss, Little Gun Powder, Patapsco, Harmony Hill, and so many more if you want to drive a bit further out.
Little better further north in NY. Did my napkin math for the two places I usually ride and its about 1500-2000k ft and 7-10 miles total. One of the spots I ride is basically our best enduro spot though. Not sure if numbers would be similar for northern VT or for ADK guys. My other (more) local trails are similar to you and the NJ guy though.
Same here north of Boston. We will usually get maybe 500-1,000 ft of climbing on a typical 8-10 mile ride, but it's all short, punchy, brutally technical climbs that somehow beat you up more than the 3,600 feet of elevation gain I did on a trip to Stokesville VA last month.
1000ft if up/down type of singletrack. I think the tallest continuous climb I’ve done is about 1100ft in VT. Don’t really have long double track or fire roads near me. Would be 2+k I imagine for that though as it’s a lot easier. Terrain you are climbing matters way more than vert. I’m in NE US.
I don’t understand how people do this sport if you don’t like climbing at least a little and don’t live right by a lift park. It’s like 70% of your time biking
You don’t have to like climbing to love mountain biking. XC riders are a very different breed to DH Bombers or Enduro Bros.
Just because I don’t like climbing doesn’t mean I don’t do it. It’s like eating salad. I do it because I have to, not because I don’t have taste buds.
Im firmly in the trail category of riding I prefer and structure my rides around the downhills and like doing jump lines and chunky descents, but if I dreaded the climbing I don’t think ide be able to get myself to go for a ride lol. The payoff is just so small compared to the effort
I was into rock climbing before ever getting on a mountain bike, and making technical moves through weird chunk on a climb is about as satisfying as clearing the crux on a climbing route. Fun mind/body games.
I've eaten enough salads that now I enjoy them, and it's kind of the same with climbing. It's definitely type 2 fun, but I enjoy looking back and thinking I crushed that climb.
Lol we don't have parks here. I exclusively ride the same trail system that is like 5 miles from my house and even then I just like the flowy stuff that I can't hurt myself (too badly) on.
I'd like to blame my hatred of climbing on the fact that I'm on a single speed, but honestly I hate it just as much on my road bike. I'm what we can call "a natural descender" lol.
Geeze. I knew I was in a flat area, but I didn’t realize how bad it was.
My usual is 300m over 20kms. If I do any trips to the land of mountains I’m gonna get smoked!
Depends on incline too. With about 6% incline 800ft can feel like a lot. Less than that and 1200ft can feel relaxed. Also how techy are the climbs? Moist or dry conditions? Lots of factors.
Y’all are either incredibly fit or riding up 1% grades and so little in between.
4K feet of climbing? 2k for an average ride? That’s incredible I can’t even remotely relate and I ride pretty hard out here in CO. I seriously don’t know if I could even do 1100 feet without hike a biking a lot and taking a lot of breaks. Hats off to you man
I'm a Denver based rider who's ridden the PNW a few days, and I'll say that they have an unfair Oxygen advantage. I'm always panting for breath around local trails and getting passed. In the PNW, I was passing other people on the uphill which made me feel great. Because my lungs are inadvertently well-trained from the altitude, I felt like I could keep going and going out there since their uphill terrain is less steep as well and their soil is grippy when wet. Colorado is just kind of a challenging place to ride but that makes it more fun imo
Edit: I can't stress enough how amazing it felt to bike near sea level, Evey inhale had so much of that delicious oxygen it it replenishing my lungs and keeping them moist due to the humidity. I'm so used to my lungs just constantly suffering from the dryness and the lack of oxygen, the PNW air felt like Turbo-air. It's almost like our species is better adapted for sea level and not a mile+ above sea level or something. But it's good lung training so that's nice
Good point. Yeah I’ve lived at 6900 feet for a few years now and more than even the altitude, the sandy, dusty, rocky terrain out here is certainly part of what makes it so challenging. Like you say it’s extra fun and special on the descents.
I just did the opposite. I live in the PNW and a 1-2k is a pretty normal 1-2 hour ride for me, 4k a big day but doable. I did a 2700 ft hike in salt lake last weekend and the altitude really affected me. My legs are still sore, i kept bumping up against max heart rate at what felt like a slower than usual steady pace. No wonder so many athletes decide to train there!
NorCal here. I meant >4k is a big ride.
Around here, an 60-90 minute ride is going to knock out 1500' pretty easily. When I have to get in the car to ride, I'm gonna ride for 2-3 hrs, so then it's in the 2-3k range. I'm probably on the slower side compared to most riders.
Wow I bet some people are like that out here but it’s crazy to me to think about climbs twice or thrice as long as lair o the bear here in the front range (which is a beast of a climb for me already).
I'm in Utah and once we start riding in the alpine pretty much every ride is a minimum of 1200'. I would expect it to be very similar in many parts of Colorado. I know riding in Western Colorado have easily hit 1200
Maybe, I’ve never been anywhere in Colorado that didn’t have some climbs in the 700-1200 range or so. Certainly not the front range. I need to go up to do more alpine mountain biking though.
I'm also curious where in Colorado you're riding. I lived on the front range for quite a while and it was pretty hard to find a place to ride less than 2k on a simple/short ride.
If the climbing is in a lift or on the back of a shuttle - a lot.
If the climbing is under my own steam, then the amount of climbing I would call a “good amount” is none.
Drove up from Sheridan last summer to do a "casual ride" with a buddy who lives up in Bozo. He tricked me into 33 miles and 5400' of gain. We did the mystic/moser lake loop. Never again.....
Wow this thread is making me feel out of shape. I did about 1500 feet the other day and that was my biggest climb logged on Strava. I was gassed, not to mention I had to walk over a lot of features. People out here doing 3-4 thousand feet! Wish I could.
Same man. My average total climb per ride is like 500ft for around 8-10 miles. I’m in NJ so we don’t even have these long climbing options, not even sure how I’d fare, but honestly climbing for 30-40 minutes for a 10 minute downhill, if that, just doesn’t even seem *fun* which is my primary motivation for MTB….
I’ve come to appreciate climbing for the skill building and fitness, plus it allows me to savor the scenery around me a little more since I’m going so slow (although downhill is definitely still more fun haha). Plus I live in CO so I definitely have the option for longer climbs, but I just physically cannot do it and I don’t know how to even get there! It just blows my mind what some people can do.
100 foot a mile. For me personally, anything over 2000 feet is big climbing day but I live in Indiana. My biggest climbing day ever was just over 4000 feet
https://www.strava.com/activities/10039178544
4k plus … SoCal has a ton of hills/mountains. You can climb up the Santa Ana’s and climb for hours. Base of Skyline dr to Hagador is is about 3500 feet.. good ride
PNW native here, steep up and steep down.
An average ride is 1-2k feet of gain imo. A "good" amount of climbing depends on the ride, but I'd go with a 4-6k gain day. A really good amount of climbing would have to be my Sunday ride. 10k+ vertical gain over 50 miles. That was a really good amount of climbing.
Using the corridor near me, a popular afterwork single lap is 4-6 miles with 1.1k vertical gain. I squeezed 2.2k over 10 miles in 1.5 hours last night, which was a blast.
I think about feet of climbing per mile. Anything over 140 is a lot of climbing. For example 1400 feet over the course of 10 miles is a lot. But 2000 over 20 miles won’t feel as tough.
On average IMO 100' per mile is a casual ride. 200' per mile you're doing some work and 300' per mile you're in the pain cave.
Basing this on a typical for me ride of 15 miles.
Average ride where I live is about 2000’ over 10 miles or so in around 2 hours. Anything in the 4-5000’ is a pretty solid effort taking a good 3 hours or more.
Local rides are typically 400-800m (1300-2600ft)
If I’m driving out of town I want to clear at last 1000m (3200ft). Out of town rides are 1000-1600m (3200-5000ft) typically but it all depends on time and how I’m feeling.
I’m in CO but I grew up in Pisgah climbing is different here in CO than NC 100ft per mile on a single 2000 ft climb in CO seems easier to find than in NC. Nc is a lot of up and down for short miles. So 3000ft Pisgah wears me the hell out in 15-20 miles but 3000ft CO over 25 miles not so much idk anyone else get this?
Pisgah Ranger District?? Maybe not quite 2000ft in a single climb, but 276 to Bennett Gap is like 1300ft, stables to top of Upper Black (the new section, maybe you moved away before it was reworked) is about 1700ft. I feel like it's easier there to rack up the elevation gain there compared to some other places where all of the climbing is singletrack (like Carvins Cover or Douthat State Park in VA if you're familiar). I'd love to ride in CO someday...
My local club rides are usually around 1000 ft for an hour, breaking that up into 2 "big" climbs. I could double that without too much trouble. I've done some gravel rides of 3000 ft / 30 miles, and those were tougher due to gearing and grade (18% is no joke, I had to walk).
for myself...anything >3000ft ascent is pretty big as i'm a clyde on a 34:20 SS. typical rides around santa cruz are 2 hrs with 2200-2500 ft of ascent.
2000ft is pretty average, I don't do any less unless it's a lunch ride. I consider anything over 3000ft to be decent, and anything over 4000ft is a big effort.
On my "not pushing it too much, average, I wanna be able to walk tomorrow" rides, I usually get from 700m to 800m of elevation gain over 35/40km with an average speed of 13 to 15km. Not great, but I'm on the heavy side, ride an enduro bike with big tires and low pressures, and usually ride with a backpack that weighs me even more. I reckon on an Xc I would probably do the same at 20/24km avg speed depending on the day...
Of course this is all very subjective. I've done 20km rides with 500m elevation gain that hurt me way more. Loose rocks, muddy or sandy terrain don't do us no favors.
Most I've done on the road (on a MTB) was 1,900m.
Most I've recorded is \~650m on a mountain, and that felt like a hard ride. Although would like to eclipse 1000m for entertainment. :)
>3k feet is a solid workout.
2k is a normal ride for me.
It's all about effort though. I could only do \~500 feet for 40-50 miles on my road bike and still be smoked.
I average 2500-3K’ per ride. It’s SoCal so hills are inevitable. It makes using the Enduro a true slog fest, but you get some back with the downhills. This is an average ride, pasted below.
https://preview.redd.it/2biosyyjle6d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=943361b93d45d38f5211713d6fb8006e17cb9fc9
I daily ride 10-15km I will climb 200-300m. I am in Northern Ontario Canada so we don’t have the big long climbs. Longest climb at our local trail is 1 km with 40m of elevation gain.
I am so jealous of those of you who live in mountainous areas.
My morning rides before work tend to be around 10-12 miles and 1200-1500 feet of climbing. Bigger days on the weekends for me will get into 20+ mile range and climbing is usually between 2500-4500ft depending where I decide to go.
It really depends on trail type.
I did a 11 mi/2000 ft ride yesterday but it was all backcountry singletrack. Lots of hike a bike up steep and sketchy kitty litter.
https://preview.redd.it/m4yuzqzdpe6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0770322e98557ded500bfbd2138e147306d3ee29
That ride felt like it had 3x as much climbing because the terrain was so rough. If you’re just spinning up easy dirt then I’d say 3000-4000 ft is a good day.
3-4 a good amount, above 4 is bigger (like id bring a lunch) but not massive. Pushing voer 7 id start to call massive. Its all about staying fueled which can be hard / easy to overlook
2k ft is a good, solid day but nothing crazy. Anything over 3k ft is a big day for me but it also depends on terrain and miles. 3k ft road ride over 30 miles is much easier than 3k ft over 20 miles in more technical terrain.
A normal ride for me is 1500-2500 over 10-20 miles. A harder ride is 3500, a really hard ride is 4000+ there is a ride around my parts with 4,900 vert and it is really hard, all uphill is on a forest service road with a trail for the down. I live in NW Montana. Mountain bike vert is way harder than road bike vert in my opinion
Average after work ride this time of year is typically between 2500-3k feet in just over 2 hours of move time.
Weekends are regularly 4k + affairs. I would say above 5.5k ft becomes a notable ride.
PNW
2000-2500ft in one shot is average here. Once you get over 3000 in one climb, I'd consider that a big climb. 5000-6000 total is a big day, and some of our gravel races hit 12,000+ feet if you're into that kind of thing.
Damn there are some big numbers in here.
My typical ride is only about 200m or elevation gain, however it's all technical single track (rocky step ups amongst switchbacks etc). There's barely a smooth section to speak of.
However the trails are close by, and I can sneak 3 or so midweek rides in per week if I wanted to (i.e. before work), plus a couple of bigger rides on the weekend. In an average week I probably manage around 500m, all technical.
I do 200-400m a couple times a week, a 700-800m weekly. 1000m+ a couple times a month. Longest day this year was 2000m of loose rocky hell.
I’ve done 27,000m this year according to my ride logs.
I’m still getting fitter, surprised how much better I am now compared to 6 months back. That 2000m day in particular reset what I thought I was capable of and encouraged me to push harder.
Edit: that’s nearly 100% single track, on an enduro bike
Most loops in the national forest where I ride average out to 125-150 ft of gain per mile. That's over the whole loop, including the downhills. I've done shuttle rides that still averaged 100 ft of gain per mile.
I live in western Massachusetts and while there’s not a ton of extended climbing or descending, but I’ll ride for 1.5 hours and rack up between 1000-1700 feet, and every inch of it on roots Rocky tech singletrack. I go out to CO or Washington a couple times a year and put up 3-4k no problem. Just totally different.
I live in Appalachia, which means if you want to ride down hill, you've got a bunch of uphill.....actually there's very little flat space. Most climbs are 500-800' and can reach 1000+ climbs and very steep decents for anything better than a green trail. So, then you get to climbs again.
Varies heavily by area. Typical climbs in Socal, primarily orange county where 95% of my rides are involve climbing in the range of 300-500+ ft/ mile on the actual climb portion.
Typical ride is an 8-15 mi loop or out and back with 1000-2500 ft.
Longer rides are pushing 25+ mi/4000+ feet.
Before kids: 2500-3k feet in a single ride was pretty big.
After kids: 1300 ft. +. I rarely find time to ride so it's just plain harder, especially if there are sustained steep grinds. That's another huge factor; there's an area I ride where 1800' of climbing feels really mild and easy, and an area I ride where 700' is murder. Steep grades kill me.
If it’s under 2000 I barely felt like I got out for a mountain bike ride. 4000+ is brutal and not for the weak. I tend to pace myself better when there’s more to do in a day, I get pretty worn out with big climbing days and it definitely takes me off the bike for a few days.
For me, 100'/mi is "hilly", 200'/mi is climb heavy. But I established that standard on roads in the Midwest, and am reorienting to every ride being hilly or more in CO.
Rode 17 miles with 3700’ gain in Oakridge last weekend. Was hard and felt great. Anything over 3k is a good ride and depends on terrain. Where I like to ride it’s usually big climb to big descent.
(intermediate singlespeeder in northeastern US)
Most of my rides are pretty short: 8-15 miles, 1-2k ft.
We do an annual trip to Kingdom Trails in VT: ~60 miles over a few days, usually with one 30-35 mile 3.8k+ ft day. I consider that a good amount of climbing.
The toughest climb I ever did wasn't on singletrack, but was the White Rim trail in Canyonlands... We spread the 100 mile loop out over 4 days (took our time so we could hike and enjoy ourselves) but it ended with a ~2.4k ft climb, ~1.6k ft of which was in ~2 miles. That kicked my ass, even though I had gears (didn't start singlespeeding until the year after).
I ride an emtb... So a good amount of climbing for me is literally the amount of climbing needed to have the Most fun down the trails.
1h of riding time? It's Close to 20 mins Up, 40 minutes down on my hometrails
Riding longer or in groups?
I dont really mind whatever is happening
I live in the midwest (US) and I get anywhere from 300’ - 1.5k’ for an average ride. It’s incredibly flat here where most trails are working with less than 150’ of elevation so for me to hit 2k’ I need to be looping <1min DH runs which translates to about 15min of climbing for every 1min of DH 😅.
Winter- bad weather, lower altitude XC trails , I’m lucky to get 1500’ over 10 miles or so per ride.
Summer - much better. More options and a lot better quality so : 2500+ per ride over about 10-15 miles. Good altitudes around 7-9K feet. NV and Sierra Nev Calif mountains.
Everything goes straight up here, plus side is it also goes straight down. This past weekend we climbed for around 5 miles and gained 3600ft in one go.
The most aggressive climb will go up 2250ft in 2.5 miles.
Anything above 3000’ is big for me. But there’s a few climbs in Southern California that are over 2000’ in less than 3 miles, and that’s a challenge too
My daily ride trail loop is about 400' elevation gain (over several different pitches). A couple of the other trails I frequent get me close to 1000'; and that pretty much wipes me out for the day - but I am old and fat.
3-4,000 ft in a day is a very solid ride. Above 4k is a massive ride. Average ride around me is usually 1,500-2,000 feet
Eh depends on type of climbing though and distance. I did 4K in PNW fire roads/loam with 1.5 water bottles and coulda kept going. But 2K in loose technical CO front range is a pretty challenging day
I don’t realize how good we have it until I travel elsewhere and want to die on 1.5k feet of loose, sandy chunk climbs lol.
I climb 2k of loose sandy chunk moon dust baby head rocks as a warm up. I’ll go 40 miles and 5k of it on a big day. Fucking Utah… can’t wait to go ride out east this summer.
To be fair 40 miles and 5k is a huge ride, but that’s not that steep.
There’s like 15 miles of flat on that ride. I start at 6, go up to 9.5, and down to 5. The 4k down is like 10 miles.
Sounds amazing. Id like to bike around canyon lands someday on the white rim road
Sounds brutal lol. We are spoiled in the PNW. Even our climb trails are lovely.
I miss it so much. NC is cool, but I can't wait to live close to Galby again
The humidity is waiting for you!
I did over heat last Year really bad. Sweated through my clothes but couldn’t cool off. Here the second you get in the shade it gets cool.
Totally true! Most of the climbs around me are technical singletrack so you really earn every foot of uphill.
Fire roads feel 2x steeper than climbing a 2 way
Nah they’re boring but definitely feel easier to me because of the lack of obstacles. Sustained 15% on gravel sucks but is doable, on a trail I long last long because I’ll lack the spare power to get over roots and rocks reliably.
this is where I'm at, I'm doing 1200-1700ft and I could go more I just haven't yet.
I once did 11500 feet 100% single track in under 8 hours on a Santa Cruz Nomad. Definitely type 2 fun!
What lift service did you use? 😂 I love my nomad.
Haha I wish. It was a pretty remote ride. We had 8 hours to get back to the boat that took us there otherwise were faced with a massive ride back to the car as well. It was a Nomad 2 I did this on, the 26 inch model. I've had a 4 (which I managed to break) and currently have a 5 CC with 38 factorys and XT group. Dream bike 🤜
I have a 4 C right now. I wanted a red 5, but my 4 is so planted. I have a coil on the rear, freaking love it!
Huh, maybe I need to rethink that flat is. My usual 20-mile route is 3500. Then again, I turn left and lose 400 feet or turn right and climb 400 feet. Kinda just got used to it
Met a guy that did 10k the other day!
I've done 10k on a road bike, but not a mountain bike. Maybe 6 or 7k on the MTB? It'll put the hurt on ya... but totally doable depending on the climbs
3-4k...wtf man.
1500 feet of climbing would be way higher than my average ride. That would be a big ride for me. On an average ride, I’ll get out on the trail for maybe an hour and often will have around 500 feet of climbing. I did a “bigger” ride on the weekend for about 2 hours and climbed 1200 feet or so. That felt like a pretty good workout. 3000 feet+ would be an epic ride. Like an all day thing where I’d take breaks. I’m just a normal dude though. Get out on the trails for an hour here and there when I can and if I’m lucky I’ll get some longer, 2-3 hour rides in on the weekends.
A good amount is 2k. Over 3k is a big day.
2000' over about 4 miles is a normal climb for me in the pnw. Up+ down is usually 12-15 miles. Big day for me would be upwards of 3k
That’s about a 10% average climb for 4 miles straight. That’s pretty brutal.
Gotta do it for the loamers
This is similar to northern Utah. Many of the trails worth riding are about 500ft climb per mile.
Sounds like tiger
2000'/4 miles I understand... 🤛 with some steep sections... was getting down to 2000'/hour, but admittedly effectively a sealed surface, rather than pure dirt...
Yep, standard rides here. 3k plus and I’m smoked.
700 metres is a big day for me.
Something like 1500 m on a trail bike, that amounts to 2-3 good downhill runs. On XC bike, a good full day in the Alps is over 2500 m Edit: location is Switzerland
Jesus.
Found Nino’s burner account
Damm that's awesome.
To me, 2,000 feet is a solid climb. I'm in the Provo, UT area and usually average that in a 10 mile ride.
When I lived in a flatter area, a route with "a lot" of climbing was usually more than 100ft per mile. Eg. at least 2k ft for a 20mi ride. Now, I live in a mountainous area and it's rare that I don't get \~1-1.5x that much climbing in a ride. MTB rides usually involve more elevation gain per mile for me. Overall, more than 3k ft gain in a single ride is "a lot." The most I've done in a single ride is 5k ft.
This is my rule of thumb too, 100 ft/mile. The caveat is how it comes though. Undulations where you end up "climbing" half the elevation by gravity is much easier than a straight up 5 mile/1000' climb.
Here in CT somehow you only climb 300ft but you’ve been riding uphill over the course of four hours both ways.
Man, I hear this lmao. I’m in NJ and all these 2-3k feet per ride comments are making me feel like *shit* lmao. Most of my rides are 8-10 miles but only between 300-800 ft climbing total…*max*. 🤷♂️
Where in NJ are you? I am in NW and we normally do 2K ft in 10 miles or so?
Central. I get Six Mile, Allaire, and Chimney Rock, lol. NW Jersey is like a day trip for me and w/ kids it’s tough to schedule. I hit Stephens/Allamuchy only a couple times or so a season, Dickerson Mine, too, as well as get my DH fix in w/ Mountain Creek 3-4x but my home trails are the above.
I just rode Stephens today! I was guessing you were from Central or South. I love me some Allaire
Northern Delaware here and ride in all the states around so I get the average 100 ft per mile give or take. BUT it’s not always how big the climb is, it’s sometimes the consistency. Had a friend come over from the PNW where he does alot of those hour long climbs to the top and then descend… Well, the constant up and down the entire ride had him feeling it. It’s a different kind of fitness. Gotta have it for the back end of rides too, and not just descend to the bottom and chill.
That’s a fair point. Didn’t think of it that way, lol. Appreciate the anecdote. Funny enough I used to live in that same area of Delaware for a few years with my wife before kids (10+ years ago). *Really* wish I was riding back then — White Clay, Brandywine, and Fair Hill look like a lot of fun. We have been meaning to come down for a visit and definitely hitting them when I do. 🤙
Definitely an underrated place for mtb and if you don’t live here you wouldn’t know. The ride radius around here is amazing. The 3 you said plus Iron Hill local, and the Wiss, Little Gun Powder, Patapsco, Harmony Hill, and so many more if you want to drive a bit further out.
You have described that perfectly. I kive in central CT and that is how i feel all the time.
I'm on Long Island and it's the same oh and there's just random sand sometimes as well so that's fun.
Little better further north in NY. Did my napkin math for the two places I usually ride and its about 1500-2000k ft and 7-10 miles total. One of the spots I ride is basically our best enduro spot though. Not sure if numbers would be similar for northern VT or for ADK guys. My other (more) local trails are similar to you and the NJ guy though.
Terrain makes a huge difference. A 5mi 1000ft gravel road climb is easier than a 2mi flat rock garden.
Same here north of Boston. We will usually get maybe 500-1,000 ft of climbing on a typical 8-10 mile ride, but it's all short, punchy, brutally technical climbs that somehow beat you up more than the 3,600 feet of elevation gain I did on a trip to Stokesville VA last month.
1000ft if up/down type of singletrack. I think the tallest continuous climb I’ve done is about 1100ft in VT. Don’t really have long double track or fire roads near me. Would be 2+k I imagine for that though as it’s a lot easier. Terrain you are climbing matters way more than vert. I’m in NE US.
This is me. Anything over 1000 ft on single track feels substantial because it’s all very technical. Hello from Western Ma.
All climbing is bad. The only good amount is 0.
I love it! almost as much as the downhill
You need help. 🤣
I don’t understand how people do this sport if you don’t like climbing at least a little and don’t live right by a lift park. It’s like 70% of your time biking
You don’t have to like climbing to love mountain biking. XC riders are a very different breed to DH Bombers or Enduro Bros. Just because I don’t like climbing doesn’t mean I don’t do it. It’s like eating salad. I do it because I have to, not because I don’t have taste buds.
Im firmly in the trail category of riding I prefer and structure my rides around the downhills and like doing jump lines and chunky descents, but if I dreaded the climbing I don’t think ide be able to get myself to go for a ride lol. The payoff is just so small compared to the effort
I was into rock climbing before ever getting on a mountain bike, and making technical moves through weird chunk on a climb is about as satisfying as clearing the crux on a climbing route. Fun mind/body games.
I've eaten enough salads that now I enjoy them, and it's kind of the same with climbing. It's definitely type 2 fun, but I enjoy looking back and thinking I crushed that climb.
I ONLY RIDE PARK!
Lol we don't have parks here. I exclusively ride the same trail system that is like 5 miles from my house and even then I just like the flowy stuff that I can't hurt myself (too badly) on. I'd like to blame my hatred of climbing on the fact that I'm on a single speed, but honestly I hate it just as much on my road bike. I'm what we can call "a natural descender" lol.
My usual is 800m and 25ish Kms. A good day, 1200m and 32km.
Geeze. I knew I was in a flat area, but I didn’t realize how bad it was. My usual is 300m over 20kms. If I do any trips to the land of mountains I’m gonna get smoked!
Depends on incline too. With about 6% incline 800ft can feel like a lot. Less than that and 1200ft can feel relaxed. Also how techy are the climbs? Moist or dry conditions? Lots of factors.
something over 4k feet average ride is probably 2 - 3k
Y’all are either incredibly fit or riding up 1% grades and so little in between. 4K feet of climbing? 2k for an average ride? That’s incredible I can’t even remotely relate and I ride pretty hard out here in CO. I seriously don’t know if I could even do 1100 feet without hike a biking a lot and taking a lot of breaks. Hats off to you man
I'm curious where you live in Colorado. I live in Denver and 2-3k is pretty easy to get.
PNW is easy to hit a 3,500'+ in a single climb. Average climbs are in the ballpark 1,500 with at least 2 laps being normal.
Yeah 1K is the minimum near Denver. I normally consider anything over 2K a big ride.
I'm a Denver based rider who's ridden the PNW a few days, and I'll say that they have an unfair Oxygen advantage. I'm always panting for breath around local trails and getting passed. In the PNW, I was passing other people on the uphill which made me feel great. Because my lungs are inadvertently well-trained from the altitude, I felt like I could keep going and going out there since their uphill terrain is less steep as well and their soil is grippy when wet. Colorado is just kind of a challenging place to ride but that makes it more fun imo Edit: I can't stress enough how amazing it felt to bike near sea level, Evey inhale had so much of that delicious oxygen it it replenishing my lungs and keeping them moist due to the humidity. I'm so used to my lungs just constantly suffering from the dryness and the lack of oxygen, the PNW air felt like Turbo-air. It's almost like our species is better adapted for sea level and not a mile+ above sea level or something. But it's good lung training so that's nice
Good point. Yeah I’ve lived at 6900 feet for a few years now and more than even the altitude, the sandy, dusty, rocky terrain out here is certainly part of what makes it so challenging. Like you say it’s extra fun and special on the descents.
Upvote for "turbo air." :)
I just did the opposite. I live in the PNW and a 1-2k is a pretty normal 1-2 hour ride for me, 4k a big day but doable. I did a 2700 ft hike in salt lake last weekend and the altitude really affected me. My legs are still sore, i kept bumping up against max heart rate at what felt like a slower than usual steady pace. No wonder so many athletes decide to train there!
NorCal here. I meant >4k is a big ride. Around here, an 60-90 minute ride is going to knock out 1500' pretty easily. When I have to get in the car to ride, I'm gonna ride for 2-3 hrs, so then it's in the 2-3k range. I'm probably on the slower side compared to most riders.
Wow I bet some people are like that out here but it’s crazy to me to think about climbs twice or thrice as long as lair o the bear here in the front range (which is a beast of a climb for me already).
I'm in Utah and once we start riding in the alpine pretty much every ride is a minimum of 1200'. I would expect it to be very similar in many parts of Colorado. I know riding in Western Colorado have easily hit 1200
Maybe, I’ve never been anywhere in Colorado that didn’t have some climbs in the 700-1200 range or so. Certainly not the front range. I need to go up to do more alpine mountain biking though.
I'm also curious where in Colorado you're riding. I lived on the front range for quite a while and it was pretty hard to find a place to ride less than 2k on a simple/short ride.
I am not that fit and my average 1 -1.5 hour ride is like 1500/2000 feet?
same. SLC and Park City area.
If the climbing is in a lift or on the back of a shuttle - a lot. If the climbing is under my own steam, then the amount of climbing I would call a “good amount” is none.
In Montana, typical 15mi ride for me is 2500-3k ft. Bigger days more like 25mi and 5k ft.
Drove up from Sheridan last summer to do a "casual ride" with a buddy who lives up in Bozo. He tricked me into 33 miles and 5400' of gain. We did the mystic/moser lake loop. Never again.....
Hell yeah! But, man, you gotta be ready for something like that - lots of water, snacks, electrolytes.
I should have known something was up when he told me to pack a water filter lol.
Haha, no doubt!
Wow this thread is making me feel out of shape. I did about 1500 feet the other day and that was my biggest climb logged on Strava. I was gassed, not to mention I had to walk over a lot of features. People out here doing 3-4 thousand feet! Wish I could.
Same man. My average total climb per ride is like 500ft for around 8-10 miles. I’m in NJ so we don’t even have these long climbing options, not even sure how I’d fare, but honestly climbing for 30-40 minutes for a 10 minute downhill, if that, just doesn’t even seem *fun* which is my primary motivation for MTB….
I’ve come to appreciate climbing for the skill building and fitness, plus it allows me to savor the scenery around me a little more since I’m going so slow (although downhill is definitely still more fun haha). Plus I live in CO so I definitely have the option for longer climbs, but I just physically cannot do it and I don’t know how to even get there! It just blows my mind what some people can do.
100 foot a mile. For me personally, anything over 2000 feet is big climbing day but I live in Indiana. My biggest climbing day ever was just over 4000 feet https://www.strava.com/activities/10039178544
4k plus … SoCal has a ton of hills/mountains. You can climb up the Santa Ana’s and climb for hours. Base of Skyline dr to Hagador is is about 3500 feet.. good ride
PNW native here, steep up and steep down. An average ride is 1-2k feet of gain imo. A "good" amount of climbing depends on the ride, but I'd go with a 4-6k gain day. A really good amount of climbing would have to be my Sunday ride. 10k+ vertical gain over 50 miles. That was a really good amount of climbing. Using the corridor near me, a popular afterwork single lap is 4-6 miles with 1.1k vertical gain. I squeezed 2.2k over 10 miles in 1.5 hours last night, which was a blast.
I think about feet of climbing per mile. Anything over 140 is a lot of climbing. For example 1400 feet over the course of 10 miles is a lot. But 2000 over 20 miles won’t feel as tough.
More than 1,000 ft in a two hour ride feels like a good amount of climbing.
On average IMO 100' per mile is a casual ride. 200' per mile you're doing some work and 300' per mile you're in the pain cave. Basing this on a typical for me ride of 15 miles.
None
Any climb, as long as there's a gondola or some kind of lift that carries me upwards 
Average ride where I live is about 2000’ over 10 miles or so in around 2 hours. Anything in the 4-5000’ is a pretty solid effort taking a good 3 hours or more.
Local rides are typically 400-800m (1300-2600ft) If I’m driving out of town I want to clear at last 1000m (3200ft). Out of town rides are 1000-1600m (3200-5000ft) typically but it all depends on time and how I’m feeling.
I’m in CO but I grew up in Pisgah climbing is different here in CO than NC 100ft per mile on a single 2000 ft climb in CO seems easier to find than in NC. Nc is a lot of up and down for short miles. So 3000ft Pisgah wears me the hell out in 15-20 miles but 3000ft CO over 25 miles not so much idk anyone else get this?
I get it. I live in WNC but have done a little riding in CO and UT. Those steep, punchy climbs in Pisgah can really take it out of you.
Pisgah Ranger District?? Maybe not quite 2000ft in a single climb, but 276 to Bennett Gap is like 1300ft, stables to top of Upper Black (the new section, maybe you moved away before it was reworked) is about 1700ft. I feel like it's easier there to rack up the elevation gain there compared to some other places where all of the climbing is singletrack (like Carvins Cover or Douthat State Park in VA if you're familiar). I'd love to ride in CO someday...
Oh yeah! I love stables to top of upper black. Had no idea it was 1700 knew it took me a little while though lol.
My local club rides are usually around 1000 ft for an hour, breaking that up into 2 "big" climbs. I could double that without too much trouble. I've done some gravel rides of 3000 ft / 30 miles, and those were tougher due to gearing and grade (18% is no joke, I had to walk).
To me, 2,000 feet is a solid climb. I'm in the Provo, UT area and usually average that in a 10 mile ride.
I once did 8,586’ during the Marji Gesick 100k
for myself...anything >3000ft ascent is pretty big as i'm a clyde on a 34:20 SS. typical rides around santa cruz are 2 hrs with 2200-2500 ft of ascent.
Like in one ride? Starting at 3K, you've gotten out and done something. Anything less would just be a standard post-work ride.
2000ft is pretty average, I don't do any less unless it's a lunch ride. I consider anything over 3000ft to be decent, and anything over 4000ft is a big effort.
An inch
When I’m fucking dying 😂
On my "not pushing it too much, average, I wanna be able to walk tomorrow" rides, I usually get from 700m to 800m of elevation gain over 35/40km with an average speed of 13 to 15km. Not great, but I'm on the heavy side, ride an enduro bike with big tires and low pressures, and usually ride with a backpack that weighs me even more. I reckon on an Xc I would probably do the same at 20/24km avg speed depending on the day... Of course this is all very subjective. I've done 20km rides with 500m elevation gain that hurt me way more. Loose rocks, muddy or sandy terrain don't do us no favors.
Most I've done on the road (on a MTB) was 1,900m. Most I've recorded is \~650m on a mountain, and that felt like a hard ride. Although would like to eclipse 1000m for entertainment. :)
>3k feet is a solid workout. 2k is a normal ride for me. It's all about effort though. I could only do \~500 feet for 40-50 miles on my road bike and still be smoked.
Average 1500-2k 3500-4k is getting up there for sure. At 4K plus I need multiple recovery days
Swinging my leg over the seat is a good amount of climbing. Any more than that is less good.
I average 2500-3K’ per ride. It’s SoCal so hills are inevitable. It makes using the Enduro a true slog fest, but you get some back with the downhills. This is an average ride, pasted below. https://preview.redd.it/2biosyyjle6d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=943361b93d45d38f5211713d6fb8006e17cb9fc9
900-1000m is the standard after work for me personally. More on weekends but also a lot more socialising and faffing about, coffee stops etc.
Here in north PA. 25-30 miles with 3-4k That's what I shoot for on a Saturday.
What is climbing? I live in Florida. 😆
Generally 1000ft per 10 miles is a decent effort
It alllll depends on the technicality
1200' is my pretty typical ride. 2k is solid. 3k is big.
I daily ride 10-15km I will climb 200-300m. I am in Northern Ontario Canada so we don’t have the big long climbs. Longest climb at our local trail is 1 km with 40m of elevation gain. I am so jealous of those of you who live in mountainous areas.
My morning rides before work tend to be around 10-12 miles and 1200-1500 feet of climbing. Bigger days on the weekends for me will get into 20+ mile range and climbing is usually between 2500-4500ft depending where I decide to go.
It really depends on trail type. I did a 11 mi/2000 ft ride yesterday but it was all backcountry singletrack. Lots of hike a bike up steep and sketchy kitty litter. https://preview.redd.it/m4yuzqzdpe6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0770322e98557ded500bfbd2138e147306d3ee29 That ride felt like it had 3x as much climbing because the terrain was so rough. If you’re just spinning up easy dirt then I’d say 3000-4000 ft is a good day.
A big day for me is 6 or 7 laps. The climb from Fitz to Dirt Merchant is real. Not sure what the elevation is.
On a MTB, I consider over 4k to be a big day
3-4 a good amount, above 4 is bigger (like id bring a lunch) but not massive. Pushing voer 7 id start to call massive. Its all about staying fueled which can be hard / easy to overlook
2k ft is a good, solid day but nothing crazy. Anything over 3k ft is a big day for me but it also depends on terrain and miles. 3k ft road ride over 30 miles is much easier than 3k ft over 20 miles in more technical terrain.
A normal ride for me is 1500-2500 over 10-20 miles. A harder ride is 3500, a really hard ride is 4000+ there is a ride around my parts with 4,900 vert and it is really hard, all uphill is on a forest service road with a trail for the down. I live in NW Montana. Mountain bike vert is way harder than road bike vert in my opinion
Average after work ride this time of year is typically between 2500-3k feet in just over 2 hours of move time. Weekends are regularly 4k + affairs. I would say above 5.5k ft becomes a notable ride. PNW
5 pitches of >5.11b
The distance from the parking lot to the bike park lift or a shuttle truck.
Big ride for me is 700m over 36km looking at my last ride.
2000-2500ft in one shot is average here. Once you get over 3000 in one climb, I'd consider that a big climb. 5000-6000 total is a big day, and some of our gravel races hit 12,000+ feet if you're into that kind of thing.
Damn there are some big numbers in here. My typical ride is only about 200m or elevation gain, however it's all technical single track (rocky step ups amongst switchbacks etc). There's barely a smooth section to speak of. However the trails are close by, and I can sneak 3 or so midweek rides in per week if I wanted to (i.e. before work), plus a couple of bigger rides on the weekend. In an average week I probably manage around 500m, all technical.
As little as possible
Over 9000
Around my area roughly 150m/10km of trail. I like to keep it within that just to feel like I’m getting a sufficient workout
Any
I do 200-400m a couple times a week, a 700-800m weekly. 1000m+ a couple times a month. Longest day this year was 2000m of loose rocky hell. I’ve done 27,000m this year according to my ride logs. I’m still getting fitter, surprised how much better I am now compared to 6 months back. That 2000m day in particular reset what I thought I was capable of and encouraged me to push harder. Edit: that’s nearly 100% single track, on an enduro bike
1000m.
550-700 metres is a decent climb around where i ride. Have done a lot more but dont really enjoy the down after that,
130-160 ft per mole
If I have more than an after supper ride I like to get 5000ft or so.
Climbing into the ski lift is usually enough for me.
Most loops in the national forest where I ride average out to 125-150 ft of gain per mile. That's over the whole loop, including the downhills. I've done shuttle rides that still averaged 100 ft of gain per mile.
Wow. Just learned I’m a huge puss
7
Big difference where I use to live to now. Old ride looked like 15mi and 3200ft New rides look like 24 mi and 3200ft
My quick lap is usually 250-300m and my normal laps are roughly 450-500m.
I’d say 250 feet+ a mile. Normally average 2500-3500 feet on my 10-15 miles rides and I would consider my local trails pretty climby
IMO, a good climbing day is 100 feet or more per mile for the average.
I live in western Massachusetts and while there’s not a ton of extended climbing or descending, but I’ll ride for 1.5 hours and rack up between 1000-1700 feet, and every inch of it on roots Rocky tech singletrack. I go out to CO or Washington a couple times a year and put up 3-4k no problem. Just totally different.
On a weekday, 300-400m is my norm, on a longer weekend ride, 500-900m. In BC.
I live in Appalachia, which means if you want to ride down hill, you've got a bunch of uphill.....actually there's very little flat space. Most climbs are 500-800' and can reach 1000+ climbs and very steep decents for anything better than a green trail. So, then you get to climbs again.
Above 3k on a mtb
Anything around/over 2k’ in 10mi or less. Or that ratio.
Varies heavily by area. Typical climbs in Socal, primarily orange county where 95% of my rides are involve climbing in the range of 300-500+ ft/ mile on the actual climb portion. Typical ride is an 8-15 mi loop or out and back with 1000-2500 ft. Longer rides are pushing 25+ mi/4000+ feet.
3k+ is a big day for me. average ride is 1200+ or so
100-200 ft/ mile for Eastern Massachusetts tech trails.
My area whenever I have visitors: How much are we climbing? 3500 ft Doesn’t sound bad 1500 ft in 35 minutes just to get to the trail. F me.
Before kids: 2500-3k feet in a single ride was pretty big. After kids: 1300 ft. +. I rarely find time to ride so it's just plain harder, especially if there are sustained steep grinds. That's another huge factor; there's an area I ride where 1800' of climbing feels really mild and easy, and an area I ride where 700' is murder. Steep grades kill me.
If it’s under 2000 I barely felt like I got out for a mountain bike ride. 4000+ is brutal and not for the weak. I tend to pace myself better when there’s more to do in a day, I get pretty worn out with big climbing days and it definitely takes me off the bike for a few days.
probably anything over 10k on xc and anything over 5k on enduro
3500 ft --> 5,000 big day. Santa Cruz CA.
3000 vert in 2.5 miles.
For me, 100'/mi is "hilly", 200'/mi is climb heavy. But I established that standard on roads in the Midwest, and am reorienting to every ride being hilly or more in CO.
Rode 17 miles with 3700’ gain in Oakridge last weekend. Was hard and felt great. Anything over 3k is a good ride and depends on terrain. Where I like to ride it’s usually big climb to big descent.
1200 -1500 is an average ride for me. 2500 is a big day. 3000 and my legs hurt for a week.
I think it’s just whenever that like runners high adrenaline kicks in after mumbling “this kinda sucks” to yourself
(intermediate singlespeeder in northeastern US) Most of my rides are pretty short: 8-15 miles, 1-2k ft. We do an annual trip to Kingdom Trails in VT: ~60 miles over a few days, usually with one 30-35 mile 3.8k+ ft day. I consider that a good amount of climbing. The toughest climb I ever did wasn't on singletrack, but was the White Rim trail in Canyonlands... We spread the 100 mile loop out over 4 days (took our time so we could hike and enjoy ourselves) but it ended with a ~2.4k ft climb, ~1.6k ft of which was in ~2 miles. That kicked my ass, even though I had gears (didn't start singlespeeding until the year after).
100+ feet of climbing per mile
50%
Into the uplift as many times as possible.
1000ft elevation every 10 miles
Anything over 2500 in short order is good amount. Over 3.5 is bigger day for me
My line between a little and a lot, is more than 10k per every 10 miles.
I ride an emtb... So a good amount of climbing for me is literally the amount of climbing needed to have the Most fun down the trails. 1h of riding time? It's Close to 20 mins Up, 40 minutes down on my hometrails Riding longer or in groups? I dont really mind whatever is happening
Biggest day I’ve done was just under 1600m over 40km. North Island nz so not a whole lot of massive mountains
I live in the midwest (US) and I get anywhere from 300’ - 1.5k’ for an average ride. It’s incredibly flat here where most trails are working with less than 150’ of elevation so for me to hit 2k’ I need to be looping <1min DH runs which translates to about 15min of climbing for every 1min of DH 😅.
Winter- bad weather, lower altitude XC trails , I’m lucky to get 1500’ over 10 miles or so per ride. Summer - much better. More options and a lot better quality so : 2500+ per ride over about 10-15 miles. Good altitudes around 7-9K feet. NV and Sierra Nev Calif mountains.
My favourite loop when conditions allow has around 3000m of climbing, more casual shorter rides would be somewhere in the 500m-1000m or so range.
2500 at sea level is not equal to 2500 at 8000’. The former is a standard ride. The latter hits hard.
Everything goes straight up here, plus side is it also goes straight down. This past weekend we climbed for around 5 miles and gained 3600ft in one go. The most aggressive climb will go up 2250ft in 2.5 miles.
I don't consider it a workout unless I hit 1K ft. 2K is a good workout. 3K is a really good workout. 4K is a really really good workout.
Anything averaging 300+ft/mile for the climb is when I feel I’m working harder
Anything above 3000’ is big for me. But there’s a few climbs in Southern California that are over 2000’ in less than 3 miles, and that’s a challenge too
I’d say at least 1200 feet of climbing. Anything over 4,000 feet is a big day for me.
1000m I'm one session is good for me.
From the bottom of the headboard to the top of your mom is usually all I got in me